Chapter 373 - 370: Reunion

Chapter 373: Chapter 370: Reunion

Compared to the bustling people on the island, the group that had just returned from the lighthouse to the town center seemed rather idle.

The island’s residents had set up numerous tents in the square, creating temporary shelters.

The moment she reached the square, Li Luo was swept into a hug by a figure who came rushing toward her.

It was Lin Nian. She anxiously checked Li Luo over, then pinched her cheek and asked in a mock-angry tone, "Where did you run off to? I’ve been looking all over the island for you."

Li Luo turned and pointed to the distant lighthouse. "Installing a light."

Lin Nian followed her gaze and stared, baffled. "A Fire Thief has to install lights?"

She placed a hand on Li Luo’s shoulder and asked seriously,

"You’re also responsible for bringing light to mankind?"

Hearing this, Li Luo was at a loss for words.

"I... guess so."

Lin Nian’s gaze then shifted warily to the two figures beside Li Luo.

One was a black, coal-like creature.

The other... a black robot.

The moment she saw the robot, Lin Nian froze.

It was as if she sensed something.

The unit looked at the stunned Lin Nian and gave her an incredibly sincere bow.

"Hello." A steady, mechanical voice reached Lin Nian’s ears.

For some reason, upon hearing that voice, Lin Nian subconsciously replied, "Hello."

Her hand slid from Li Luo’s shoulder. Lin Nian slowly walked toward the unit, then pressed her ear to its chest.

A robot has no heartbeat, yet Lin Nian listened intently.

The unit didn’t resist, simply standing still and allowing Lin Nian to press against its chest.

As she listened, a laugh escaped Lin Nian’s lips, and a single tear welled up and fell.

The tear landed on the unit’s mechanical arm, and surprisingly, it caused the black coloring to smudge and run.

The blackness covering the unit’s body began to fade away like ink, dissipating into the night and revealing a pure white chassis.

Lin Nian reached out and took hold of the unit’s arm. A barely visible electric current arced between their fingers, as if they were exchanging information.

Lin Nian’s expression shifted constantly, as though she were witnessing something.

After the rhythmic current pulsed for a while, Lin Nian finally let go.

She looked at the unit, now free of its black coating, and sighed.

"Long time no see."

"Long time no see, Lin Nian," the unit replied calmly.

Hearing the unit’s words, however, Lin Nian shook her head violently and took a step back, distancing herself from it.

"You shouldn’t have made me remember... I’ll report you to the authorities. You won’t escape being decommissioned then."

Her tone suddenly grew agitated. She trembled as she spoke, as if wrestling with some internal conflict.

The unit, however, remained as placid as ever. "You won’t report me."

"How would you know? I signed the consent form to have you decommissioned." Lin Nian’s voice trembled more intensely as she spoke.

"And I was the one who personally sent you to be scrapped! Have you forgotten? I could have run away with you, but I sent you to be scrapped without a second thought. I can do it again!"

Lin Nian kept backing away, and the unit unhurriedly maintained the distance between them.

"That wasn’t what you truly wanted."

"Why not? To avoid being ostracized by the institute, to stay on the right side of the authorities, to escape the pressure from my family, for my own reputation... I destroyed my best friend..."

She faltered on the word "friend," continuing to back away until she bumped into a tent.

"Humans aren’t perfect. They are filled with conflicting thoughts and are often driven by them to make choices they regret. Your decision was the correct one under the circumstances, even if it went slightly against your true intentions."

Keeping its distance, the unit spoke to her calmly.

"Even if you hadn’t sent me to be scrapped, you would have regretted it after facing punishment from human society. Your personal safety could have been threatened, and my destruction would have been unavoidable all the same."

"Between sacrificing two people and sacrificing one, you chose the option with the least damage."

"But..." Lin Nian started to argue, but the unit cut her off.

"But it left you with immense guilt. You felt you betrayed a ’friend,’ betrayed a companion who trusted you completely. So you’ve been blaming yourself ever since, even starting to believe those baseless conspiracy theories at the company."

"That only made you blame yourself more, making you feel that your inaction led to my demise and trapping you in a spiral of guilt."

"Sometimes you even fantasize, thinking that if you had done everything in your power to save me, I might have escaped my fate. But your rational mind tells you it was impossible. So your heart became a tangled mess, caught in the battle between emotion and logic..."

The unit had laid bare every one of Lin Nian’s inner thoughts.

Lin Nian stared at the unit with tear-filled eyes, her face a mask of indignation.

"You knew all that, and you still said it!"

The unit held up its hands. "The memories just returned. You needed an outlet. All that guilt came rushing back, and you felt too ashamed to face me. But you couldn’t run, so you threatened to ’report’ me, hoping I would back off on my own. But you knew it was impossible. You were only embarrassing yourself..."

Seeing the unit continuing to voice her innermost thoughts, deconstructing and analyzing her every action, Lin Nian finally snapped. She rushed forward and slammed a fist on the unit’s head.

"Shut up!"

"My niece is right here! Keep it down!"

"’Perfect machine,’ my ass! You don’t understand the first thing about social tact!"

Her fist hit the unit’s alloy shell, doing no damage to it whatsoever, but leaving her own hand bright red.

After this outburst, Lin Nian finally calmed down.

With the unit’s guidance, the painful memory was thus assimilated, leaving no side effects.

Lin Nian wasn’t truly angry at the unit. As the emotional impact of the memory faded, the thought of her outburst made her blush with embarrassment.

She glanced up at the still-calm unit, then quickly lowered her head again.

"I’m sorry." The apology was barely a whisper.

But the unit still gave a soft sound of acknowledgment.

Under the dim lights, the unit and Lin Nian stood in silence. The crowds bustled past, but nothing disturbed the two reunited friends...

"I need a new chassis," the unit said to Lin Nian.

"Okay." Now that her memories were back, Lin Nian agreed without hesitation.

"But we’ll have to wait until things on the island have stabilized. Right now, we don’t have the right equipment, and it could be a long time before the power is even restored." Lin Nian glanced toward the distant ruins, her voice tinged with worry.

The unit simply lowered its head, looking intently at Lin Nian.

"It’s all right. I’ll wait for you."